Flooded with Opportunities – Turning Flood Management Mitigation Schemes into Community Assets

Traditional flood mitigation schemes typically involve conveyance and storage systems such as waterway widening, pump stations, and basins. These systems are intrinsically land-hungry; flow and volume design parameters necessitate the use of substantial land areas.

When flood mitigation schemes need to be located within existing developed areas, these land-hungry and high capital cost projects need to provide justifiable benefits to the communities they service. Additional challenges are the unavailability of large areas of land, the close proximity of properties and roads, and the multiple demands for use. Any proposed land utilisation for infrastructure must compete with other uses (such as residential or commercial development and community facilities) and values (such as ecology, recreation and heritage).

These challenges present designers with an opportunity and a potential new mantra: to create infrastructure serving multiple purposes for our communities. When land is so valuable, can we afford to use it ‘just’ for flood management? If we are going to occupy land and invest in substantial flood management infrastructure, can we make that land provide multiple benefits to the community? This paper will present two project examples where Christchurch City Council staff identified and developed opportunities to implement flood mitigation infrastructure in spaces whilst also improving the social, ecological and cultural values of these spaces for the community. The examples are Edmonds Park sports fields, and the Te Oranga Waikura Urban Forest, from council’s Bells Creek Stage 1 project.